'It's a real death-or-glory show, boys!' That was how Group Captain Percy Pickard ended the briefing for what was to be one of the RAFs most daring and dangerous raids of WWII; Operation Jericho, on Amiens Gaol of Feb 1944. Requested by the French Resistance to free, or to sacrifice, up to 700 prisoners held by the Gestapo at Amiens, 18 Mosquito FBVIs of 140 Wing were prepared at short notice to attack the prison at low-level and high speed, the objective being to break the walls. Led by Pickard in Mosquito HX922, 140 Wing attacked with complete surprise causing utter chaos inside the prison. 258 prisoners escaped through the breached walls, with 102 killed. Warned of collateral damage, the Resistance said death from RAF bombs was preferable to Gestapo torture and execution. Only two Mosquitoes were lost, one of which was HX922. Pickard and his navigator, Bill Broadley, failed to return and are buried at Amiens.
DeHaviland established a reputation for highly advanced aerodynamic design in the 1930s and proposed the Mosquito as an unarmed (meaning no defensive weapons) medium bomber. Built using a lightweight wooden sandwich construction, minimising use of critical supplies of aluminium, the structure would be familiar to todays aircraft designers' using honeycomb and carbon fibre.
The resulting light-weight Mosquito possesed fighter class performance, proving capable of escaping Me109s with speed alone. Once proven numerous variants were created, the principal type being the multi-role fighter bomber (FB), the Mosquito also proving capable in the interdictor strike and night fighter roles.